So what environmental factors make us look older, or do in fact actually age our skin? In a clever twist, a study looked at identical twins to determine some factors that increase the rate at which we age.
Since identical twins have are very similar genetically, then differences in how their faces age, will be mainly due to environmental and lifestyle differences.
Therefore, in an effort to tease out what makes a face look older, nearly 200 sets of identical twins were compared. The twins were dressed alike and hair pulled off their faces, so that the comparison focused on the faces. Still pictures were taken, and then an independent panel was asked to assess whether one twin looked older than the other.
The factors that were found by the study to accelerate aging were smoking, sun exposure (particularly outdoor sports, such as golf, where long periods of time are spent outside), stress and anti-depressant use.
Those that were divorced rather than married or widowed were generally judged to be older. It was not clear whether depression is aging, or anti-depressant use is aging, or antidepressants cause more relaxation in the face making it look older.
Those that had been overweight before age 40 and then lost the weight after 40 were judged older, whereas those that had put on weight after 40 were judged younger looking. The loss of weight makes sense since as we age we lose deep fat from our face (see the post, Facial aging is mainly due to changes in fat pockets).
Take a look at a slideshow of some of the twins and which ones were considered older. It is interesting to look at the pairs. I agreed with most of the assessments, but there was one in particular (number 4), I thought was the other way round. The woman on the left has stronger creases between her eyes, but looking at the lower face I thought she looked younger. (The slide show is on the NYT website. You have to sign up to look at the site, but there are no fees or strings attached in doing so.)
See what you think.
[tags]identical twins, older, aging, environmental factors{/tags]
